Merry Christmas!...No snow...Yet!

Art imitating life! The broken ball count continues as
Shakespeare enjoys Christmas and Hamish is just
glad he's deaf!

A Much Needed Update

Sorry I have been AWOL again.
Really not too much occurring apart from the usual doldrums I get at this time of year. Work has been manic and my stress levels have reached sky high. Possibly something I shouldn't mention but (seeing as this is a warts and all blog), I will...I have been prescribed mild anxiety medication to help me stay a little calmer right now. That said I am feeling much better this week that I was last week (before I started taking them).

There are many things compounding my mood and state of mind. Christmas is nearly upon us once more and for me it's a total non-entity. I dislike Winter intensely and not having my family around this time of year really gets me down and then there's work, with a new computer system that is extremely complex and  making my job 3 times more arduous than it was before. Rob and I will be spending our first Christmas in our new home which is the one thing I am looking forward to, that a few days away from work.

The weather forecasters are practically chomping at the bit now when it comes to predicting the weather. They want snow, ice pellets, blizzards, white outs and freezing rain so bad now. They seem pretty disappointed that mother nature has let them down so far. Hard to believe but since my last update and that dusting of snow we had, we have seen NONE...yes NONE of the white stuff yet. What we have had is pounding rain and wind, followed by mild temps and almost t-shirt weather days. It;s certainly been a mixed bag. I know we won't avoid the snow for much longer but I for one have been enjoying the wet days.

What I haven't been enjoying has been driving home in the dark on those aforementioned wet days.
The reason being...Pedestrians on badly lit crossings wearing black clothing. Now I pride myself on having pretty good eyesight, But you cannot see these people who not only dress in the worst possible colour, but step out without looking or warning as they have right of way and don't look first and expect you to stop....Meanwhile us, the car drivers are struggling to make out even the crossing under the dimly lit street lights (that would be equal to the likes of the streets lights in a third world country), whilst battling blindness from oncoming traffic and driving rain. Reflectors should be made compulsory whilst walking at night round these parts and pedestrians should not have right of way unless the crossing is controlled by a 'walk now' button. Even with the new zebra crossing markings it's still almost impossible to see people. Every week I am still hearing of people being knocked down, it is crazy...and it's no wonder.

Okay I am moving on from the ranting.

I did make the effort and go out this weekend. We had a works do, a bunch of us went bowling, we have some food there and more than a few drinks. I must confess I got the most drunk I have been in years. The do was on the same evening as Anne and Smiffy's Christmas bash, so I was pretty miffed about that. Rob went round to theirs and chauffeured me back after the bowling so I could make a late and rather drunken appearance...Sorry about that Anne! I We swapped presents I slurred quit a bit and was probably quite annoying. I then proceeded to get an early hangover. One of the presents they gave us was from their cat Donovan to our boys. Some toys in a small gift bag.When we returned home I put the bag on the kitchen table and quickly made my way to bed. At around 4 am Rob and I were rudely awakened by a crashing sound then a cat running full pelt across both of us whist rustling at the same time, at break neck speed he ran back across us, before we had time to get up and investigate...What did we find...A ripped gift back, part of which (the handles) around Shakespeare's neck, with the rest of the paper attached looking like a cape of sorts and a some smashed Christmas tree balls where he had done a few turns of the tree trying to escape the bag. This I might add did nothing for my now terrible hangover.

I am not sure if I will be updating the blog again this side of Christmas. So until next time, I wish you all a Very Merry Christmas. Here's to a happy, healthy and prosperous 2015. We shall be raising a glass and remembering absent friends, sadly lost this year;
Kevin, Gord, Warren & Chris.

Winter at Blue Rocks (From the Archives)

Movie Props and Bad Driving

Apologies for the lack of update last week. I really had nothing to talk about I have literally been nowhere and done nothing.

The weather has turned colder now and although, thankfully we haven't had the weather that Buffalo and other parts of Canada have been enduring, the temperature has dropped somewhat. This week we did actually see a dusting of snow on Wednesday morning. Apparently Nova Scotian's had forgotten that it snows at this time of the year and had also forgotten how to drive. I headed off to work at a snails pace along Main Street wondering what on earth the hold up was, only to come to a complete halt just before joining the Circ (highway). A police car promptly pulled up and the officer got out and started re directing traffic...He ushered me off to another lane, as I crawled past him, reluctant to change my route I wound down the window and politely said 'If you send me off down here, I have no idea how to get to work'...To which he replied...'Where do you work?' I told him and then he said, 'Well you will have to go down Prince Albert and loop round'. I am pretty sure that this last sentence means nothing to you dear readers, as it did to me...I wound up the window and preceded into unknown territory. Thankfully as I started to blindly follow traffic with no clue as to where I was going, Rob sent me a text asking if I had got to work okay...his reply from me was 'Lost - Help' I got him on the phone (speaker) and he had to literally calm me down off the ceiling of the car (as I think I was screaming in a pitch only dogs can hear) and help direct me.
Every which way I went there was traffic everywhere.I eventually got to work, all told the normal 10 minute journey took me an hour. I heard later that in and outside of the city there was a total of 37 accidents...Can you believe it?!

A message to Nova Scotian's...It's Winter...It snows...Get your Winter Tires on and Slow Down!

Yesterday Rachael, Her son Dean, Rob and I went to the Victorian Christmas event at Halifax Citadel.You may remember we went last year. I cannot convey to you (even though it was a sunny day) how cold it was up there. It was actually minus 3 degrees but with the biting wind, it felt like minus stupid! My face was still red raw last night. I would have come away empty handed photographically had it not been for the remains of a movie set in the grounds which we found far more interesting than all the Santa and bagpipes stuff. We to a look round behind one of the buildings and found a veritable feast of movie props handily all gathered in what resembled a back alley. We braved the howling wind that was whistling down there and bagged some photos. Which you can see below. It reminded Rob and I of Dr Who for some reason. I just imagine it's what one of their sets might feel like, although not outdoors and freezing cold.

Movie Set at The Citadel

Back Alley Barrels - Very Dr Who

Barrel Wagon (left) Dried Flowers on Hanger (right)

Old Mangle (Left) Dried Flowers on Crate (Right)

More Wheels and Barrels...Loved it!

Remember

I hope this post finds all my UK followers well on this Remembrance Sunday. I do hope that at least some of you have made it up to the Tower of London to view the amazing ceramic poppy spectacle. I have to say I would have loved to have visited that in person. I read that some it will still be on display until the end of November. I think it's a shame it can't stay there permanently as a constant reminder and tribute to those who served and gave their lives.

Over here we have Remembrance Day on Tuesday and for most of us it is a holiday. There will be services and parades across the province. The largest being in Halifax.

I really haven't done anything much to talk about, so now you can expect a bit of waffle...

The dreaded Christmas season is nearly upon us again, I just bought some Christmas cards and found the whole process quite annoying, where the heck did Summer go? We also spent a couple of hundred bucks this week getting the Winter tires put on, an oil change and the rust proofing undercoat. Pretty essential living here as the vehicles really do take a pounding all Winter.

I am going to skip on to something more pleasant than Winter and it's time for me to bang on about a movie I watched this week. (I cannot actually believe it's taken me this long to watch it as I have actually had it in my possession for months). 'Silver Linings Playbook' is the best film I have seen in a very long time. I'll be honest, when I started watching it, I thought it wasn't for me, but I quickly changed my mind, the acting is superb, it's thoughtful and touching with a just the right amount of humour. If you haven't seen this movie yet, give it a go. For me these days, I love a movie that tells a good story, that's character driven and not reliant on special effects and this checks all of those boxes.

Not only did I see the best movie I have seen in a long time this week, I also fell in love all over again with Ed Sheeran. I finally got around to buying the new CD 'X' and track 11 Talking Out Loud literally takes my breath away. If you only buy one CD this year, buy this one!!

I will leave you with (the not so good video) for Thinking out Loud, I do admire Ed for taking on the dance challenge I just think he looks a little awkward. Also as a special treat for you :o)...Some of my recent images of Shakespeare taken under the sheets on our bed which is his absolute favourite game.
Don't forget if you want to catch up and see all my photos you can follow me on Flickr here.

I'm ready for my close up now

Mischief is just a paws length away

Undercover Cat

Upside Down

Happy Halloween

Stuck on You

I trust everyone had a wonderful Halloween. Rob and I (having ignored it last year) decided we would participate again this year in the hope we wouldn't have 150 kids knocking at the door in the new neighbourhood and thankfully there were just about 35 that came round in some rather interesting and pretty good costumes I might add. We had enough treats for 50, so we have been enjoying the leftovers yesterday and today.

A few of the work colleagues dressed up on Friday, we had a pirate, a devil 2 sexy fire women, Batman and Clint Eastwood (Colleen our Operations Manager)...I definitely thought hers was the best.

Friday itself was a beautiful weather day, sunny and warm, and even into the evening it wasn't cold. However since then it has rained ALL weekend. So I have been no where and done nothing which is slightly annoying to say the least.

The clocks went back last night and it's pretty dark and
miserable already and it's only 4 pm. It's all downhill and full steam ahead for the dreaded Winter now. I did get a second opinion on the weather from the Accu-Weather blogger that I follow on Twitter, he did confirm that he also thought the temperatures would be much milder this winter, but now I wonder is milder temps means more snow rather than less. at least when it gets really cold it can't snow.

I shall be booking up this week to get my Winter tires on and the car rust proofed. Apparently New Brunswick had some snow this weekend...That sucks!

I don't really have much to write about as you can probably tell so I will leave you with images of my newly vamped up sofa, curtains & rug, some more Fall shots and this years Jack-O-Lantern that we carved on Wed (photographed amongst the ton of leaves we still have to rake up in the back yard and on the deck).

My 'Standard' Jack-O-Lantern Design!

Crossing Lines

New Cushions, Curtains and Rug. FYI before the rug was
a beige pattern/check the cushions were an 80's  embroidered
 Aztec pattern and very thready. The curtains were floor
length,beige large check pattern. even though the image 
is crap, it really is a vision in blue and grey now.

I Come from a Land Down Under

Enchanted

Hello...and first of all let me wish my friend Sylvie a Happy Birthday! She is an avid reader of the blog and hopefully this will be the first thing she reads on Monday morning.

Bit of a dull old week again, nothing really to talk about. We have had a lot of rain this week and quite a bit of wind too, so sadly the Fall Colours have gone past their best now. I still haven't taken a photo of the updated cushions and curtains in the family room...Note to self...Must try harder!

Rachael and I went out for a walk yesterday, we went back to Shubie Park and I her took her along the exact trails Rob and I walked last week. There were still pockets of colour here and there, but I would say two thirds of the leaves are now on the ground.

I was pleased to read this article in the paper this week. If he is right I will be more than happy! However the sceptic in me says this is coming from someone connected to Environment Canada...And you all remember the Rick Mercer +1 video I posted! It could be a false sense of reassurance to stop us all from going to those dark places and destroying property!

In a random piece of trivia apparently I am sounding more and more Australian. You would not believe the amount of people that talk to me on a weekly basis and say 'I love you accent' I always politely say thank you...and then ask them Where do you think I am from? The answer is always the same...Australia. Actually there was one chap about a week ago who actually thought I was South African. I corrected him one time and he obviously didn't hear me and carried on talking about South Africa so I loudly corrected him again, which seemed to stop him dead in his tracks as he had no anecdotes about the UK. I feel all these people can't be crap at hearing my accent so I can only attribute this to the following:

1. English mixed with Canadian sounds Australian
2. My best mate Sarah's NZ accent rubbed of on me a long time ago and part of stuck and has emerged again since I moved to Canada
3. I have been watching too much Australian Big Brother

Whatever the reason, I think I am stuck with being from a Land Down Under.
On that bombshell, I will leave you with some more images from our fabulous Fall.

Fall Forest Finery

Falls Island

Fall Delight

Fall Patchwork II

Cascading through Fall

Titivating Interiors

Touches of Fall

Well it's Sunday and I am not going to put off until tomorrow what I can do today. I only say that of
course because I don't have a whole, heck of a lot to write about.

The weather has been just lovely this week apart from Friday when it rained most of the day. All the hurricane activity moving around and past us, coupled with weather fronts from Ontario are giving us almost Summer-like conditions. I think this is the first year I have known when we haven't experienced a massive wind storm that has quite literally blown the leaves off the trees overnight.

That said the colours really are so beautiful right now. Depending on which area you visit, some have maybe gone past their best but in the City they have just emerged. Robert and I took (what turned into) a long walk around Shubie Park yesterday in the late afternoon. It wasn't what I would call a blue sky day but light kept peaking through the hazy, grey clouds lighting up all the golds and reds, it's just so lovely to see.

In other news I have been titivating the family room. My tired, old blue sofa was in need of a makeover, so I finally spent the rest of the vouchers we were kindly given by Rob's boss. I ended up buying some new cushions for the aforementioned sofa and just by doing this, it has completely given it a new lease of life and looks ten times more trendy than it did before. I also finally threw out the old beige/check rug that we bought we we first moved here. It went past it's prime a long time ago and was an eye sore as far as I was concerned. It has now been replaced by a small grey shag pile rug and today I got some heavier weight nice quality grey curtains for that room to complete the look. I have yet to take a photo, but I will. It's amazing how much a few little tweaks can vastly change the look and feel of a room.

For those of you in the UK wondering (perhaps)...I am watching Strictly Come Dancing and loving Jake AKA Max Branning from Eastenders...I would love to see him win the whole thing. My other favourite it Caroline Flack who I think is amazing on the dance floor. Simultaneously I am also watching the USA version Dancing with the Stars, so I get somewhat confused on a weekly basis.
Without doubt my absolute favourite is Alfonso Ribeiro AKA Carlton from the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. He is an outstanding dancer.

I will leave you with a video of Carlton doing 'The Carlton' and some gorgeous Fall scenery.

Fall Splendour at Shubie Park

Ground Fall

Sunshine Squash